Friday, July 1, 2011

CLAYBODIES!!!!!!! good ones!

Claybodies that I have used:


Megan's Sexy Clay Body:
15 Goldart
15 Fireclay
15 Ball Clay
15 Tile 6
15 XX Saggar
15 Neph Sy
15 Silica
5 Silica Sand
]I LOVE this claybody and its one i experimented with after my undergrad! GREAT FLASHING in the soda fire and wonderful texture!!



White Stoneware:
10-Potash Feldspar
25 -EPK
30-XX Saggar
20-Ball CLay
15- Flint
This claybody in the soda fire flashes a little orange and white but when a slip is added to it creates a brighter reaction instead of a regular stoneware I also tend to add 2- 5 % of silica sand for texture
The Little Spots on the pot are the Iron Flecking in the white stoneware and the reason this piece is so white is because I sprayed a light spray of Fake Avery Slip (Recipe will be provided in another post).





White Porcelain:
30-China CLay
30-Tile 6 Kaolin
20-Kona F-4 Feldspar (NC4)
10-Pyrax
10-Flint
*for quicker plasticity add 2 % bentonite which is premixed with ten% water and allowed to sit overnight
*this claybody creates wonderful greys in the soda fire when run correctly its actually very beautiful in most the firings it goes into brightens glazes.. one thing i suggest with all porcelains though is that it sits for as long as possible in fact i have a batch in my garage thats been sitting for a year im pretty excited to dig into soon :) This cup has a Celadon Glaze over top of it but as you can see it really pops on the white porcelain.




Basic Porcelain (not as white in the wet stage)
25 Ball CLay
25 Kaolin
25 Feldspar
25 Flint
Makes a nice light colored porcelain harder to through. I also suggest adding the premixed bentonite mentioned above to this one for plasticity but with any porcelain the key is letting it age. Another helper with age is beer. It molds the clay and it will be very stinky but it works wonders in weeks as opposed to months.

Central Michigan's Basic Throwing Stoneware
50 Goldart
20 Fireclay
10 Ball Clay
5 Flint
5 Redart
This claybody is pretty simple and is wonderful for learning to throw. I used a lot of this in my undergrad!
This is a woodfired piece in which i used the stoneware and instead of using the Custer Feldspar I had substituted NC-4








Purple Earthenware
10 Custer Feldspar
15 Nephaline Syanite
20 Cedar Heights
40 Redart
14 XX Saggar (OM4 can be substituted)
*This claybody can be altered to testing due to its slumping in the wood kiln but when made right makes WONDERFUL results as you can see this piece is woodfired and there is not a single glaze on the outside just the woodash and this claybody provide a sheen all over it its really quite beautiful but is very finicky










Yellow Porcelain
25 G-200
5 Redart
25 EOK
25 Yellow Banks (Red 101)
20 Silica
Unfortunately I did not get into testing this clay body much but I put it up here because it seems that it would be interesting so hopefully in my future I can really give examples of this clay body.

#318
15 Soda Feldspar
10 Tile 6 Kaolin
25 OM4
15 Hawthorne Bond
25 Goldart
25 Foundry Hill
10 Silica Sand
This clay body is wonderful in the woodfire and would look similar to the woodfired piece I provided above. The flashing however tends to be a little more red and blue instead of such earthy colors. Its really quite wonderful for throwing or handbuilding. Lots of texture which I am very excited about!

Odie Porcelain
30 XX Saggar
25 EPK
20 OM4
G-200
15 Flint
15 Hawthorne Bond
5 Soda Feldspar

#8 Yellow Banks
60 #401
10 Fireclay
25 #101
15 Custer Feldspar
This claybody is very beautiful and it flashes red to yellow! Its really beautiful in the woodfire and very creamy of a texture when throwing.

Pepto Porcelain
50 EPK
25 Custer Feldspar (I substitute NC4)
15 Flint
2 Bentonite
5 Redart
This porcelain is very beautiful and in the woodkiln is a very wonderful pink color with green woodash drips. One of my favorite porcelains to use hands down!

So this concludes the claybodies that I have or want to experiment with! PLEASE provide me with some feedback or feel free to leave some recipes of claybodies here on this site to share with me and hopefully others!!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Yes its been forever but im GRADUATING!!!

So I have a few projects for myself over the break...

1. Update this thing! its about time for me to post all my soda secrets glaze and slip recipes all that good stuff and examples of them! --so excited!!

2. Get an etsy account... then all you lovelies can buy my lovely stuff... if you want... which you will! :D

3. Keep posting my daily ramblings so im not just a vacant blog abandoned by its owner....


so once i finish my last exam i will start to show you what i have been doing all this semester... i had my show, i actually had 3 shows... all of which went really well... and i have a piece of work in a gallery i did not even know about which is fancy if you ask me!

I moved in with my boy... yay now i have to get rid of stuff! :D

so pictures soon! i swear it this time...

till tomorrow!
Megs

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

This fall...

I wanted to also update everyone that i will have some big posts going up in the next three to four weeks... i plan on putting all the information i have about soda firing here on my blog... which means all my kiln logs my results with pictures everything... and that will continue throughout this semester right up into my bfa.

NEW STUFF woot woot!!




Lost Characters





Commissioned by my friends!






Brothers Birthday Present!
Loves me some Christopher Walken!













Flasks!!!!














More FLasks!!!!!









And even more!!!!









Funky Flasks


Vases!




And my favorite at the moment! my folded pots they were inspired by my flasks and by an artist name Karen Morgan... Pretty much and i love that they look so torso-ish!







Of course none of these are fully finished so i still have a ways to go! but i just wanted to keep everyone posted on my work!!


tip of the week would be that altering can completely change the whole idea of your work and in the end can totally help you in the long run! or it could be too much but experiment because theres nothing wrong with that!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Rib tool tip that changed my life

So I've decided to make Saturdays my best ceramic advice I got or gave someone today!

Today I was working with one of my students and they were making work on the wheel and everyone knows that feeling where they get a block sort of like writer's block, well anyways, she was at a moment with her work where she felt there was just one more thing that could add to it but she did not know what and I told her today using your rib tool to shape your work really helps you come up with smooth defined forms. I can not even make pottery very well without my rib tool and it also helps to stabilize and compress your pottery preventing cracks and slumping. Immediately she started to do it and it worked and she's hooked! I got her to sign up for more classes even! Go me!

So my tip of the day is use your rib tool! :D enjoy

Oh and definately keep looking at ceramics daily for cool new tips and ideas that always helps me!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Top FIve Favorite Things to do on a Summer Day!

5. Make pottery outdoors. There is nothing like playing in the mud outdoors its so liberating!

4. Tubing! I love living in Mt Pleasant because the river runs all the way through the whole city! No matter where you go theres a place to start and stop that you can technically walk to!! :D

3. Playing volleyball/badminton with the family and friends! soooooo much fun! add a barbeque and you got a great event planned!

2. Farmers Market. Fresh food. Enough said.

1. Walking in the park! the last three days I have spent at least 2 hours each walking outside and it has been amazing. It brings up my energy and makes my stress levels go down! While losing weight!



I LOVE SUMMER!!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Art Festival in Downtown Mt Pleasant!!

So these next few weeks im going to be super busy! i am going to be making a ton of work for the art festival downtown (which is really right outside my door).

I plan on making::

Tie Dye Shirts
Paintings
and selling my pottery i need to get rid of :)

BUT I am hoping to make lots of monies!!! woot woot!

I found this dye for fabrics at JoAnnes and it aparently can be used in a washer so we will see how it goes im going to do it tomorrow morning for the first time... hopefully a success!

as for the paintings I usually do celebs like the bill murray one that i had in a previous post but i am up to any suggestions as well as orders so if anyone is interested i would be glad to oblige you!

I also think i am going to open up an etsy store for my pottery and these random things that i do ... im excited i think im getting somewhere with the things i want to do and hopefully they will all come together!!! :)

As for my pottery i am still working at Space Studios in midland and even though i dont always have time to get out there hopefully this week i will be able to ... at least i plan on it on wednesday!


I need some more followers so I can get the word out so if anyone knows of good ways to attract more people to my site and would be willing to share them i would be really happy!!!


:D